4X5 dgitital backs

[lightwisps]

High, I am now about to jump back into the LF arena. It has been years and have been shooting only 35mm. Now I want to move into 4X5. I used to do it for a living back in the good old days when it was all film. That being said, I am thinking that if I am going to do anything commercial, I will need to be able to offer digital as well. Does anyone have any ideas of what is availiable and costs. Not to mention how to even use the beast. Seems strange to have all the darkroom equipment needed to do 4X5 and equipment to frame and matte, just no 4X5. Will keep shooting my 35mm though. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, they will be gratefully accepted. Thanks, Don

[vinny]

Betterlight.com
You'll need a sturdy field or studio camera.
I don't know of anyone who shoots with one commercially since mf digital backs and dslr's have come so far in the last few years compared to these.

[Michael Cienfuegos]

I think a few wheelbarrow loads of cash would be a definite asset if you want a 4x5 digital back. :(

[paulr]

Luckily the price of wheelbarrows has been coming down.

[Michael Cienfuegos]

But not the price of cash. :p

[Len Middleton]

But not the price of cash. :p

Actually with Quantitative Easing, it has...

Not intended as a political comment, just factual...

[Michael Cienfuegos]

Actually with Quantitative Easing, it has...

Not intended as a political comment, just factual...

:(

[Otto Seaman]

Kameras of the one-percent: http://techcamera.tumblr.com/

[Racer X 69]

So is a scanning back the only digital option for large format photography?

[Jim collum]

no.. you can use Medium Format Digital backs with an appropriate adapter.

but the Betterlight is the closest you'll get to 4x5 (it covers 3x4)


So is a scanning back the only digital option for large format photography?

[Leonard Evens]

If you want to do digital with a view camera, you should consider 6 x 9, not 4 x 5. There don't seem to be any full frame 4 x 5 digital backs.

I recently posted a similar question and after everything that people suggested, I got myself a Nikon D800. It is a full frame 35 mm digital camera which produces a 7,360 x 4,912 image, or 36 Mpx. Of course this is a Bajer array rather than one having RGB values for each pixel, and you can do considerably better with a 4 x 5 camera, but it is still good enough to make 16 x 20 prints indistinguishable from those made from a 4 x 5 frame.

It doesn't have all the features of a view camera, but you can get tilt-shift lenses which provide many of those features. In addition, because of the smaller format gives you so much more depth of field, you don't need tilts and swings as much using its normal lenses. So the major lack, as I see it, is not having rise/fall and shifts with the normal lenses.

I don't plan to abandon my 4 x 5 view camera, but I scan my 4 x 5 film to convert to digital.

[Jim collum]

Mike Collette has a pretty decent portfolio of landscape images with the Betterlight scanning back (his product) at

http://betterlight.com/gallery/MC_gallery/MC_lobby.html

[Leonard Evens]

Mike Collette has a pretty decent portfolio of landscape images with the Betterlight scanning back (his product) at

http://betterlight.com/gallery/MC_gallery/MC_lobby.html

How does he manage to get such detail of trees and other plants with a scanning back? If I understand how those work, you need exposures of many seconds. I often have trouble with wind moving foliage if I shoot at 1/15.

[Jim collum]

i shoot a lot with one as well.. The trick is when. It works well for me.. since 90% of my shooting is done from about an hour before the sun rises to about an hour after. Probably the stillest time of day.


How does he manage to get such detail of trees and other plants with a scanning back? If I understand how those work, you need exposures of many seconds. I often have trouble with wind moving foliage if I shoot at 1/15.